I think it should also be mentioned that people prefer attractive characters in general in entertainment. It’s why a lot of celebrities and movie stars are stereotypicallly more good looking, and it applies to video games as well. Also, to say that EVE is trying to attract “the male gaze” also implies that women or non-binary individuals don’t appreciate the curves on display. Which isn’t true in the slightest. My girlfriend is watching my playthrough and she also thinks all of the characters are very attractive. An argument could be made that the main character’s body is unrealistic compared to the average woman, yes. However, she isn’t the first unrealistic character in a video game, and won’t be the last. There are tons of video games where the male characters are absolutely shredded out of their mind. They have muscles that aren’t feasible with or without enhancements. But I can still appreciate their design and acknowledge that at the end of the day, playing that game is just living a fantasy for a while. And that’s completely okay
Thanks for the comment! There are a few things I agree with you on and a few I'd like to unpack a little. The first is, you're absolutely right in your observation about people preferring attractive characters in general, but one piece of your observation that I think is missing when it comes to the conversation around Stellar Blade is that Eve was made to be specifically attractive to men. That's not to say that only men can be attracted to her, but my video was made to break down some of the ways that Eve's body is used as a way of playing to that attraction. I think my video might have been a little stronger if I provided a counter example with that so here's a quick one: one of Alan Wake 2's protagonists, Saga Anderson, is an attractive woman and yet there isn't a single moment in the game where her body jiggles around. The camera treats her the exact same as it does with Alan, we don't get any gratuitous slow-motion shots of her rear or chest, instead, the game is more interested in exploring her character than her body. I think you're conflating the concept of "the male gaze" as a critical lens with simply "being attractive for men and men alone." I totally agree, Eve can be attractive to women, and NBs, and everyone, but that was never in question and not something that I ever disputed. Instead, my video looks specifically at how Eve's presentation plays into the the male gaze (the very specific critical lens I detail in the video which does not have anything to do with how women and NBs perceive women on screen, it's specifically about how women are presented.) Your point about her not being the first unrealistic woman in games is true, but that doesn't invalidate any of the criticisms I make about her. I'm not saying you're disputing that, but just worth a mention. The way men are presented in games is often used as a sort of double-standard when this sort of conversation comes up. You're completely right, a character like Ryu from Street Fighter isn't a realistic portrayal of how real men look. That said, Ryu isn't designed to specifically be appealing to women. Is he made to be attractive in general? Sure! But there's a clear different between the intention of design for a character like Ryu and Eve. Yes, women can certainly like muscular men, there's no denying that, but if you take a look at how movies made by women portray women's attraction to men, there's usually a difference between that and the way movies made by men portray men's attraction to women. You certainly haven't made a bad observation when it comes to that comparison, but the comparison isn't quite equivalent. Thanks so much for watching and engaging with the points I made in the video with good faith, really appreciate it.
Stellar Blade is just like the developer's beliefs. He always liked beautiful female protagonists. He just put what he liked into the game. Especially the hips and heels are like his signature. Marketing? Maybe a little. We can choose which game to play. Don't keep showing your dissatisfaction with the game. Just play other games that suits you. The reason why so many people join anti woke, It's because woked people meddle with normal people a lot.
Over these past few years I've really taken in how prevalent the male gaze is in media (and throughout our culture really), and it's been pretty hard, the male doesn't just stop at the physical presentation of women, but at their very being; for example in Disturbia (a 2007 teen "horror" movie I randomly saw recently) the female lead (who is also a teen) is sexualized\objectified in every single second she is on screen, her entire character is an appeal to the male gaze (it's honestly impressive acting how she managed to not feel like a real woman for a second). Disturbia would be one of the worst offenders and it's from 2007, but 2007 isn't that long ago and while things have greatly improved, the male gaze is still hyper prevalent (shounen anime being the worst considering most female characters tend to be teens), the worst part about it is how deeply ingrained it is in most men, there is a big sense of entitlement to the sexualization\objectification of women in media, which isn't helped by how some companies go the wrong way with female presentation, making quite ugly female characters (the new fable female protagonist for example). Point being, once you genuinely take in how bad and ingrained "the male gaze" (it's sad, although understandable, that this term has such a bad connotation in most men's mind), it becomes really uncomfortable seeing it in media that would otherwise be great as your video ahowcases.
As if in Metal Gear, the camera angles weren't always up Snake's and Rayden's butts (literally). I'm against any sexualization because I'm catholic, but people critizising Stellar Blade and not talking about many other games that does the same is peak hipocrisy. Baldur's Gate 3 has literal bestiality scene but I guess that's ok for them. The problem is that, if you disagree with the woke, they will try everything to silence you, while hiding their own massive hipocrisy. At least be consistent about what you are offended by
I think it’s okay to sexualize people in games, but I’m pissed at the fact that if I want to play a female character in a lot of video games, she’s sexualized. I don’t want a lady with skinny thight armor when playing a rpg
Thanks for engaging in this conversation - it's certainly a complicated and nuanced one, and I appreciate that you tackled it in good faith. I well remember studying Mulvey and the Male Gaze in cinema theory classes at uni, and that "oh" moment when I finally understood why certain media had made me uncomfortable over the years. In that aspect, Stellar Blade feels like a step backward, for sure, which makes me a bit sad. But we have ceratinly made progress over the years, and there are a lot of studios out there doing amazing work with complex femme characters who are more than their body parts, and I find that overall trend very encouraging. Thanks again for your hard work!
Thanks for watching and engaging with what I'm saying! I think there's a lot to unpack with this sort of conversation and I'm glad it resonated with you.
@@FaeydinGaming sad. When you are railing against the male characters being hyper idealized then at least you will be consistant untill then you are just being another woke hypocrite.
Stellar Blade is only controversial because you're looking at it in comparison to other women in gaming. If you look at it i comparison to women in anime, you'll be apalled. Anime in general has some of the most degenerate depictions of women(who are literally girls in some cases) in any media that isnt literally porn. Make a video on that instead then Stellar Blade becomes tame.
I totally agree with you about how anime does all of this stuff much more often and usually a lot worse. I think what makes Stellar Blade so unique is that gaming has kind of moved away from this sort of thing--not entirely, obviously but I'd say this portrayal is largely a thing of the past. As I say in the video, I don't hate the game or even Eve's design, I just think this sort of conversation is interesting. Thanks for watching!
@@jorgebellidolavado6382 While I agree some studios have been uglyfying female characters to a stupid extent, you can make female characters appropriately appealing (as opposed to the overly sexual Eve), think "Control" with Jessie being an attractive but realistic looking woman, or Freya in the new GoW games, you can even take Lara Croft in the new TR games, she's ridiculously conventionally attractive while not being *overly* sexualized\objectified (she would be in the extreme of what is appropriate I would say).
@@prominerz6701Actually most men are designed to be appealing to other men as a male fantasy; big, buff, macho. Think of MG5, Snake is what men want to be, and Quiet is what men want to have. Actual video games are still overwhelmingly played by men, so it's not weird they'd want to appeal to their target audience
![Making of - Stellar Blade [Behind the Scenes]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/SMbbYMEsvog/mqdefault.jpg)
![Making of - Stellar Blade [Behind the Scenes]](/img/tr.png)
I think it should also be mentioned that people prefer attractive characters in general in entertainment. It’s why a lot of celebrities and movie stars are stereotypicallly more good looking, and it applies to video games as well.
Also, to say that EVE is trying to attract “the male gaze” also implies that women or non-binary individuals don’t appreciate the curves on display. Which isn’t true in the slightest. My girlfriend is watching my playthrough and she also thinks all of the characters are very attractive.
An argument could be made that the main character’s body is unrealistic compared to the average woman, yes.
However, she isn’t the first unrealistic character in a video game, and won’t be the last.
There are tons of video games where the male characters are absolutely shredded out of their mind. They have muscles that aren’t feasible with or without enhancements. But I can still appreciate their design and acknowledge that at the end of the day, playing that game is just living a fantasy for a while. And that’s completely okay
Thanks for the comment! There are a few things I agree with you on and a few I'd like to unpack a little.
The first is, you're absolutely right in your observation about people preferring attractive characters in general, but one piece of your observation that I think is missing when it comes to the conversation around Stellar Blade is that Eve was made to be specifically attractive to men. That's not to say that only men can be attracted to her, but my video was made to break down some of the ways that Eve's body is used as a way of playing to that attraction. I think my video might have been a little stronger if I provided a counter example with that so here's a quick one: one of Alan Wake 2's protagonists, Saga Anderson, is an attractive woman and yet there isn't a single moment in the game where her body jiggles around. The camera treats her the exact same as it does with Alan, we don't get any gratuitous slow-motion shots of her rear or chest, instead, the game is more interested in exploring her character than her body.
I think you're conflating the concept of "the male gaze" as a critical lens with simply "being attractive for men and men alone." I totally agree, Eve can be attractive to women, and NBs, and everyone, but that was never in question and not something that I ever disputed. Instead, my video looks specifically at how Eve's presentation plays into the the male gaze (the very specific critical lens I detail in the video which does not have anything to do with how women and NBs perceive women on screen, it's specifically about how women are presented.)
Your point about her not being the first unrealistic woman in games is true, but that doesn't invalidate any of the criticisms I make about her. I'm not saying you're disputing that, but just worth a mention.
The way men are presented in games is often used as a sort of double-standard when this sort of conversation comes up. You're completely right, a character like Ryu from Street Fighter isn't a realistic portrayal of how real men look. That said, Ryu isn't designed to specifically be appealing to women. Is he made to be attractive in general? Sure! But there's a clear different between the intention of design for a character like Ryu and Eve. Yes, women can certainly like muscular men, there's no denying that, but if you take a look at how movies made by women portray women's attraction to men, there's usually a difference between that and the way movies made by men portray men's attraction to women. You certainly haven't made a bad observation when it comes to that comparison, but the comparison isn't quite equivalent.
Thanks so much for watching and engaging with the points I made in the video with good faith, really appreciate it.
Stellar Blade is just like the developer's beliefs.
He always liked beautiful female protagonists.
He just put what he liked into the game.
Especially the hips and heels are like his signature.
Marketing? Maybe a little.
We can choose which game to play.
Don't keep showing your dissatisfaction with the game.
Just play other games that suits you.
The reason why so many people join anti woke,
It's because woked people meddle with normal people a lot.
I second this keep us to our games and your woke games to yours we we play games that WE want and you can play YOUR games YOU want
Over these past few years I've really taken in how prevalent the male gaze is in media (and throughout our culture really), and it's been pretty hard, the male doesn't just stop at the physical presentation of women, but at their very being; for example in Disturbia (a 2007 teen "horror" movie I randomly saw recently) the female lead (who is also a teen) is sexualized\objectified in every single second she is on screen, her entire character is an appeal to the male gaze (it's honestly impressive acting how she managed to not feel like a real woman for a second).
Disturbia would be one of the worst offenders and it's from 2007, but 2007 isn't that long ago and while things have greatly improved, the male gaze is still hyper prevalent (shounen anime being the worst considering most female characters tend to be teens), the worst part about it is how deeply ingrained it is in most men, there is a big sense of entitlement to the sexualization\objectification of women in media, which isn't helped by how some companies go the wrong way with female presentation, making quite ugly female characters (the new fable female protagonist for example).
Point being, once you genuinely take in how bad and ingrained "the male gaze" (it's sad, although understandable, that this term has such a bad connotation in most men's mind), it becomes really uncomfortable seeing it in media that would otherwise be great as your video ahowcases.
As if in Metal Gear, the camera angles weren't always up Snake's and Rayden's butts (literally). I'm against any sexualization because I'm catholic, but people critizising Stellar Blade and not talking about many other games that does the same is peak hipocrisy. Baldur's Gate 3 has literal bestiality scene but I guess that's ok for them. The problem is that, if you disagree with the woke, they will try everything to silence you, while hiding their own massive hipocrisy. At least be consistent about what you are offended by
I think it’s okay to sexualize people in games, but I’m pissed at the fact that if I want to play a female character in a lot of video games, she’s sexualized. I don’t want a lady with skinny thight armor when playing a rpg
Thanks for engaging in this conversation - it's certainly a complicated and nuanced one, and I appreciate that you tackled it in good faith. I well remember studying Mulvey and the Male Gaze in cinema theory classes at uni, and that "oh" moment when I finally understood why certain media had made me uncomfortable over the years. In that aspect, Stellar Blade feels like a step backward, for sure, which makes me a bit sad. But we have ceratinly made progress over the years, and there are a lot of studios out there doing amazing work with complex femme characters who are more than their body parts, and I find that overall trend very encouraging. Thanks again for your hard work!
Thanks for watching and engaging with what I'm saying! I think there's a lot to unpack with this sort of conversation and I'm glad it resonated with you.
@@FaeydinGaming sad. When you are railing against the male characters being hyper idealized then at least you will be consistant untill then you are just being another woke hypocrite.
GOTY my mom loves this game as well. Combat is amazing!
"male gaze" huh when are you going to do one on the female gaze?
Didn't know Dualshockers was woke ,,, unsubbed.
Good get the hell out
Hear! Hear! Let me join you!
They also wrote that crap article bashing Barrett as comic relief. They had to remove that shit article.
why do you care. gemme a sentence.
You make really good quality videos for the amount of views you get, I hope your channel grows
Thanks for checking us out!!
Stellar Blade is only controversial because you're looking at it in comparison to other women in gaming. If you look at it i comparison to women in anime, you'll be apalled.
Anime in general has some of the most degenerate depictions of women(who are literally girls in some cases) in any media that isnt literally porn. Make a video on that instead then Stellar Blade becomes tame.
I totally agree with you about how anime does all of this stuff much more often and usually a lot worse. I think what makes Stellar Blade so unique is that gaming has kind of moved away from this sort of thing--not entirely, obviously but I'd say this portrayal is largely a thing of the past. As I say in the video, I don't hate the game or even Eve's design, I just think this sort of conversation is interesting. Thanks for watching!
Have you ever noticed they also draw the men in a way women like.
@@jorgebellidolavado6382
While I agree some studios have been uglyfying female characters to a stupid extent, you can make female characters appropriately appealing (as opposed to the overly sexual Eve), think "Control" with Jessie being an attractive but realistic looking woman, or Freya in the new GoW games, you can even take Lara Croft in the new TR games, she's ridiculously conventionally attractive while not being *overly* sexualized\objectified (she would be in the extreme of what is appropriate I would say).
@@prominerz6701Actually most men are designed to be appealing to other men as a male fantasy; big, buff, macho. Think of MG5, Snake is what men want to be, and Quiet is what men want to have.
Actual video games are still overwhelmingly played by men, so it's not weird they'd want to appeal to their target audience
lmao 950 views. Nobody cares mate.